Day 27: Nighttime Experimentation
Day 27: January 27, 2014: Corona Heights
I don’t tend to post too much technical stuff, preferring to share the images and any interesting stories behind them, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about the technical thingies. I am a scientist, after all, it’s kinda just how I operate.
Tonight was a little technical experiment on exposure and film vs digital, so gather round for a quick science lesson. You see, film has this property that digital does not, known as reciprocity failure. Essentially, the way photography is supposed to work is that the shutter is open for a set amount of time to expose the film or digital sensor to the correct amount of light to get an image. If the exposure time is doubled, the film should collect twice as much light. However, it turns out that due to some complicated to explain physics and chemistry, this relationship breaks down in very low light. A digital sensor individually measures each photon of light that hits it, while film needs to collect energy from those photons to get a chemical reaction started. It works out that a certain threshold of energy from collecting several photons photons has to be reached to undergo the chemical reaction and leave an exposed point on the film. If the photons are too far apart in time, the energy can dissipate before the next one hits, and it ends up taking more light than you would expect to get the same exposure with film under the same settings in low light.
Assuming you’re still with me, I went out to test just how much extra exposure I would need at night. Taking a few shots perfectly exposed, underexposed and overexposed, according to the camera meter, I settled on this one as the best. It turned out to be the most overexposed, at just about 2.5 times the expected exposure time. The others with shorter exposure times could be salvaged by the scanner, but came out super grainy. I find that even in better light, negative film likes to be overexposed a bit, where I almost always underexpose my digital night shots to keep the highlights from blowing out.
The corresponding digital shot with a modern Canon 6D below is massively higher in sharpness and resolution, which isn’t so unexpected since 400 speed film gets relatively grainy. I love the way the film handles bright highlights, though. Just like with the sun in yesterday’s photo, film just seems to have a different character. All of those signs, neon, all of those red lights on the buildings, they all stay colored with film, but they all seem to end up going white with digital. Maybe that’s partly the technology and partly my technique, but I dig the colors I get with film.
Lessons for the day: Everything has it’s advantages, get out there, try them all and see what works. Oh, and don’t be afraid of a little science 🙂
(Kodak Portra 400 in the Canon 650 metered for a 6 second exposure and shot at 15 seconds)
Day 26: Above the Fog
Day 26: January 26, 2014: Slacker Ridge
I see a ton of great shots coming out of the Marin Headlands, and have meant to check out the view for some time now, but the distance from home and the toll to come back is just enough to keep me from making it out there very often. Today, however, the bike was calling to me. It was time for an adventure.
After circling the city, I found myself in the Presidio, watching the waves of fog creep in across the bridge, pull back, then roll in again. Visions of low-lying fog at sunset were dancing in my head, providing all the motivation needed to head for the hills. As the sun sank lower in the sky, I ended up cruising through the headlands, trying to settle on a spot to stop. All the while, the fog danced around the hills, revealing beautiful, ephemeral slices of light that would disappear to gray in an instant: far too short-lived for me to get a camera out.
Settling on Slacker Hill for it’s iconic view, I abandoned the bike at the bottom and set off hiking/jogging to the top (Pro tip: aging motorcycle boots not recommended for hiking..). Finally emerging from the fog at the hill’s crest, I found about a dozen other photographers setting up tripods for timelapses and long exposures and settling in for a long photo session. Karl the Fog had other plans, however, and right as the sun went down, the clouds rose to wash over the hill, leaving us a moist gray hike back to the parking lot.
But, my, the views were fantastic while they lasted. 🙂
On another note, while I was up here, I watched a helicopter make a few low passes over the bridge. I was lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the Big Island of Hawaii a couple years back, and thinking back to those views, I found myself wishing I could see what those people in the helicopter were seeing as they soared over the rolling fog.
Conveniently, it just so happened that I could. I found out later that there were three fantastic photographers/videographers, Toby Harriman, Michael Shainblum, and Marc Donahue on that helicopter, when I came across some of their photos posted around the web (Check them out here). That’s just one more way that the 365 project continues to fascinate me. I’m left with this crazy photojournal of everywhere that I’ve been in the year. With the delay in film processing, I’m always looking back at least a few weeks if not months into my history. I keep finding myself pinpointing exactly where I was on a specific day, and matching that with other happenings around the area.
(Shot with Portra 400 in the Canon 650. I’m loving the way film handles bright skies and shooting directly into lights. Digital just hasn’t ever given me anything like this from a single photo, with such definition around a bright light, like the sun. Loving it.)
Day 25: Little Houses on the Hill
Day 25: January 25, 2014: Excelsior/Crocker Amazon
The Excelsior below McLaren Park, viewed from the hill across the freeway. I love the way the lines of houses snake up and down the sides of the hill on the south edge of the city. I was on my way home from a trip to the South Bay to pick up a new camera this evening when I decided to head down a new street and ended up with this view. I particularly like the bright green house. Must go over to that side and explore one of these days.
(Canon 650 with Portra 400 shortly before sunset)
Day 24: Mavericks
Day 24: January 24, 2014: Half Moon Bay, CA
I took a little journey down to Half Moon Bay on this Friday morning to check out the Mavericks surf competition. In years past, huge crowds of spectators would gather on the beach and the bluffs to watch the surfers out off of Pillar Point. That tradition ended after 2010, when a rogue wave came in, injuring a number of spectators. Now the beach and bluffs are closed to spectators, and a ticket buys you a spot in a fenced in parking lot behind a hotel in Half Moon Bay, with food trucks and a live webcast on the big screen.
Unfortunately, the live feed proved quite unreliable this year, so we eventually found ourselves on the patio of the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company in front of one of their TVs. Not the worst way to spend a Friday, but I’d probably skip the trip to the parking lot next time.
(Shot with a combination of Kodak Portra 400 in the Canon 650 and long-expired Kodak Max 800 in the Pentax K1000)
Day 23: Alterations on Market
Day 23: January 23, 2014: Upper Market
A couple shots today on long-expired Kodak 800 film with the found, sometimes stubborn Pentax K1000. These were taken up in my neighborhood, on a night when I just needed to go out for a photo after work.
I stumbled upon this broken window in the alteration shop on my way down. The neon light danced off the cracks in the glass wonderfully, though I couldn’t quite get the framing I wanted with the 50mm. From there, I headed on to the Ord stairs and back up the hill.
I find it harder and harder to find anything in my neighborhood to shoot. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen it all already, or maybe it’s because I think I’ve seen it all already so I stop paying attention and stop noticing. I think it’s probably a little of both.
Carrying on.
(2005 expired Kodak Max 800 in the Pentax K1000)
Day 22: Market Street
Day 22: January 22, 2014: Market Street
Not a whole lot going on in this one. I was out taking a few shots with the found Pentax K1000, but it seems to have been giving me some metering/shutter speed problems again, and most of the shots came out massively underexposed. This was the best I got for the night, so here it is. Carrying on.
(Shot with expired Kodak Max 800 film from 2005 in the Pentax K1000, attempted to overexpose due to the age of the film, but that didn’t quite work out as planned. Converted to black and white digitally)
Day 21: Kite Hill in the Morning
Day 21: January 21, 2014: Kite Hill
Right up there, on that hilltop, that’s the best bench in San Francisco, hands down. That’s right, it’s better than anything in the park, better than any seats on the waterfront, even better than that one at the top of Dolores. Have you sat on it? If not, you’re missing out. Get on it.
I could sit up there and watch the city below forever…at least on those few evenings when it’s not windy at the top.
On this morning, though, I was on a different hilltop, one with it’s own lovely bench, Kite Hill. Some great morning light, a looming Sutro, and even a lingering moon. Not a bad way to start a day.
(Shot on Portra 400, with some odd color tints, perhaps from the scanner?)
Day 20: Locke, California
Day 20: January 20, 2014: Locke, California
Taking advantage of a holiday Monday, I took a little road trip with my friend Lorrayne up to the delta to check out Locke. She has family history in the town, and I was in need of an interesting adventure out of the city, so off we went.
This out of the way little community dates back to 1915, and was originally built and settled by Chinese immigrants. Currently designated as a National Historic Landmark District, the town if full of history from its days as a rural Chinese community, including an interesting little museum set up in the former gambling hall. Most of the Chinese population is long gone now, but the community remains as an interesting mix of history and quirky shops, bars, and art galleries. An interesting find off the beaten path.
I think ol’ clementine down there might have actually belonged to the girl in the window, but I’m not certain.
(Combination of Portra 400 in the EOS 650 and some 2007 Expired Kodak Gold 800 in the Pentax K1000)
Day 19: Tres
Day 19: January 19, 2014: Let down at Tres
The moment of disappointment after the 49ers were knocked out of the NFL playoffs by Seattle.
I caught the game with a couple friends at Tres where we were, incidentally, the only people in the room not rooting for the 49ers (hey, sorry, but not sorry, I’m from Washington. I’m still a Seahawks guy).
Shortly after this, some 49ers fans on the other side of the room started fighting amongst themselves, and we all opted to get home and off the roads before half of SF started to pour out of the bars to head home.
(Canon 650 with some freshy fresh Kodak Portra 400)
Day 18: Golden Gate Park
Day 18: January 18, 2014: Golden Gate Park
A quick shot from mid-run in Golden Gate Park, near the Conservatory of Flowers. Most weekends when I run through here, I’ll come across a group of musicians playing on the steps to the underpass to the Conservatory. I rarely stop, as I’m usually on a run, but they’ll often have a good sized audience taking in the performance. Other days, they’ll be playing for no one but themselves. It doesn’t seem to matter, though. They seem to be playing for themselves, for the love of the music. If anyone stops to listen, great. If not, they’re still going to be having a great time.
Just one of the lovely little moments that brighten my day while passing through this city. Since starting this project, I’ve been carrying a camera along on most of my runs, so keep watching for some of my other favorite moments that I can always count on to put a smile on my face as I pass by.
(Taken on Fuji Superia 200 with Canon Sureshot A1 SLC P20)
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